Glenbrook South Hall of Fame coach Steve Stanicek retiring after 10 seasons

Steve Stanicek had an inkling something was happening, but just an inkling.

During school on Monday, a family member called the Glenbrook South baseball coach, saying they'd be at the game against Niles West.

"I'm like, I wonder if anything's going on," said Stanicek, who is retiring after this season, his 10th as Titans head coach and 21st overall with stints at Homewood-Flossmoor and Lockport.

"But when I walked outside and saw all the pictures over there, I'm like, this is insane," he said.

Out of play down the right field line, attached to the fence and posted in the ground were photos of him coaching and blow ups of his baseball cards from big league stops with the San Francisco Giants, Milwaukee Brewers and Philadelphia Phillies, and with various minor league clubs over nine seasons.

A star infielder-outfielder at Rich East and then an All-American at Nebraska, Stanicek initially was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals and then by San Francisco - first round in 1982, ahead of Barry Bonds. Baseball Reference.com notes the slugging Stanicek was the 1986 Texas League player of the year with El Paso, a Brewers affiliate.

Atop the berm near the fence, some dads who supported Stanicek's first Titans team in 2014 were firing up the grill for hamburgers and hot dogs. Dave Dillon, Conrad Lenckols, Chris O'Hara and John Ruddy normally do this for Saturday doubleheaders.

Stanicek's wife, Sheila, his father, and other family members arrived. As Glenbrook South and then Niles West took fungoes before the game as usual, peers such as Titans girls basketball coach Scott Nemecek strolled up, along with baseball alumni and parents. Titans lower-level coaches made sure game and practice schedules were clear so their players could salute Stanicek.

It indeed was a tribute.

The Titan Poms did a routine to John Fogerty's "Centerfield" in center field. Glenbrook South athletic director Tom Mietus presented the coach with a home plate-shaped wooden plaque. Stanicek joined granddaughters Ryann and Camryn for ceremonial first pitches.

A couple hours later, Glenbrook South's Draza Dupor took a Niles West pitch to the ribs with the bases loaded, forcing home John Whalen in the bottom of the sixth inning for a 13-3 mercy-rule victory - Stanicek's 453rd.

The afternoon was complete for the 2020 Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee.

"It's good to have a win on a very special day. A big surprise day for me, and it's good to see a lot of alumni come out. The coaches did a great job organizing it, and it was a very special day," Stanicek said.

"He's just such an important mentor to me," said Titans varsity pitching coach Travis Myers.

"He's been a guy I've worked with for 10 years now and I've learned a lot from him: How to handle tough scenarios, how to work with kids, how to be a leader. It's really special to be able to celebrate him and send him off, hopefully, with a couple wins in the playoffs because, as good a coach as he is, he's - cliché - a better person," Myers said.

As announcer Joe Karlovsky noted while sprinkling in "Stano Fun Facts" between innings (Stanicek's first big-league at-bat came against Tommy John), No. 4 seed Glenbrook South opens its Class 4A playoffs May 24 in Chicago against No. 13 Taft.

Glenbrook South's starting pitcher on Monday, left-hander Jason Ban, improved to 3-0 with a 1.46 earned-run average by allowing 2 hits and striking out 12 batters over 4⅓ innings before Dupor came on in relief. The Titans moved to 15-10 overall, 10-5 in the Central Suburban League South.

Ban, headed to Davidson, felt honored to get the start. He said Stanicek can be tough - "He expects a lot out of you" - but appreciated the coach's emphasis on mental aspects Ban has incorporated over three varsity seasons.

"Even today, first inning, bases loaded - times like that, they're tough, and learning how to have different things to go to in order to flush that and just kind of focus on what's at hand is definitely something that he's really pushed on to me and to the team, in general, something that's definitely really helped," Ban said.

Catcher and designated hitter Jacque Gariepy, who will play football at Drake, has had Stanicek as coach in two sports - baseball, and also as Gariepy's defensive line coach in football. He thought Stanicek had a talent for getting players to communicate.

"It's sad to see him retire, because he's such a great coach," Gariepy said.

Mietus, a former head coach himself, also saw the "relational skills" Stanicek uses to connect with players.

"You can't beat that, when you have kids that play for you," Mietus said. "The X's and O's, he's got - he can coach baseball - but when you have kids that believe in what you're doing, you get a lot out of kids."

But as Sheila Stanicek said, when this 2023 season ends, her husband "is going to be home a lot more."

Other than travel and play golf, Steve Stanicek said he'll do "nothing" until reassessing around Thanksgiving.

"It's been a wonderful situation for me," he said. "I've had incredible coaches that have turned out to be more like brothers than assistant coaches - or actually at my age (61) they're probably more like sons than brothers. It's been a great relationship.

"The kids that I've coached over the last 10 years, many of them are here today, so that's incredibly special for me. It's just been a really good run with some really good kids. The administration's been great in their support of what we're trying to do here. But I can't phrase it in any other way - it's time."